The 510, with its SOHC four cylinder, clean, boxy styling, and rare for the class IRS, paved the way for Datsun's expansion in the US. The 2/3rds a 240 Z motor put out a healthy 96 horses, and when coupled with their slick-shifting 4-speed, made for a 100-mph top end.

The Teruo Uchino-styled car's popularity on the road translated to the track, where Pete Brock's BRE Trans Am 2.5-class racers took the championship in 1972. BRE enjoyed unparalleled Factory support for their effort, and made available to the public many of the go-faster parts that they, and Nissan, had developed.

This '71 510 (home-market cars went by Bluebird) four-door doesn't wear that racing heritage, nor does it really maintain any pretense of its era at all. That raucous and meldable 1.6-litre has been replaced by a 160-bhp VG30E out of a 300ZX. The six squeezes into the nose of the car with little trouble, but with it weighing in at about 120-lbs more that the L-series, it's questionable whether the sweet tossability of the 510 remains.

That may be a moot point as the car has been built for show despite the updates to the go. The discs at all corners (also from a 300Zx) and T5 row-your-own, says let's drive, but the slammed suspension, modern 6-spoke alloys and modded interior scream let's just park somewhere and you can buff me obsessively while making sure nobody touches me. And if that's your thing then the molded-in flames on the interior door panels, as well as the Optma and sub-woofer-filled trunk will likely appeal to you. The price might not appeal, but the car does show where your $19,000 is going- which is in the mods, not the car.

So, what do you think of this expression of the maker's individuality and creativity? Is $19,000 too high a price to get this show on the road for you? Or, is that a price that would make you go for this show?

You decide!

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We've seen this 1971 510, this 1972 510, and this 510 wagon so far, and some might consider this '73 610- also known as the Bluebird-U- an honorary 510 as well.



I found this hot-rodded '73 parking near the high school, and its owner was happy to show off his not-so-hellish project car. It has the original L16 for now, but something bigger might find its way under the hood in the future.

I've never been good at figuring out 510 model years, but the marker lights and bumpers seem to indicate early 70s vintage.

You can find intra-corporate engine swaps all over the place, but even a 350-powered Chevy Vega or a 4A-GZE-motivated Toyota Starlet is a bit of a snore after you've seen a few. The real engine-swap fun starts happening when you do a mashup involving totally unrelated drivetrain and chassis; that way you get maddening challenging technical hassles and enraged purists thirsting for your heretical blood. It's a lose-lose win-win!

Sure, you can get all manner of potent Nissan powerplants for a 510, but what if you want completely absurd engine revs and all the engine weight behind the front wheels? You could spend crazy downtown money on a wild SR, and then chop a hole in the firewall and move it back… but why not just take a tip from Herr Doktor Wankel and eschew reciprocating mass? That's what the seller of this 1971 Datsun 510 with 1988 RX-7 Turbo engine (go here if the ad disappears) has done, and all you need to do is wrap up damn near everything a few loose ends to get it fully streetworthy! It's got a Frankensteined custom oil pan, some suspension mods, wheel flares, etc. It starts and drives, doesn't have much rust, and the interior is totally stripped ready for restoration. That engine put out 182 horses from the factory, and you'll be able to blow it up get much, much more with the usual turbo tweaks.

182 horsepower in a 2,000-pound car? Why, you might as well be driving a garbage truck powered by a 50cc Honda Cub motor! You need to get the power-to-weight down from 11 pounds per horse to something more stupid sensible, like 500 horsepower in a 1,000-pound car! You get to two pounds per horsepower and you'll have plenty of hill-climbing and passing power, because it's all about the safety! We all know that the cheapest route to 500 horsepower is the good ol' Small-Block Chevrolet V8; you can put together 500 reliable Chevy horses using off-the-shelf parts, no sweat… but what car best suits such an engine? We suggest this 1965 Austin-Healey Sprite (go here if the ad disappears), which is already set up for a small-block Chevy engine. By "set up," we're not sure if that means "Austin engine torn out, space now available for Chevy" or "engine mounts in place, firewall modified," but you'll learn more as you try to negotiate the price down from the $3,000 starting point. It has a "professionally built" chassis and wheel tubs- hey, you need steamroller rubber to propel you into the nearest concrete abutment get all those horses to the pavement- but the planned 4-link rear suspension, she is not finished yet. Does it come with the body and trim parts not shown in the photo? Is there rust? We can't say! Don't worry about that stuff, though, because we can think of plenty of cars with tougher parts availability than the Sprite. Thanks to Radiohound for the tip!

I'm not able to get an exact model year for this car, what with my lack of early-Datsun expertise, but the pre-Malaise bumpers and side marker lights indicate that it's probably a late-60s/early-70s car. I'm sure there's someone out there who can point to some year-specific items and get us an exact year (this car isn't listed in the state smog check database and, no, I'm not willing to risk the rage of car owners by trying to get the VIN off the dash tag).


The wagons don't have the snazzy independent rear suspension installed in the sedan and coupe 510s, but they were still pretty good performers for their day. Other than the big tires, this one appears pretty close to stock condition, but there's no telling what's under the hood.


It's great when two DOTS cars live within sight of one another; that's the Evil 1970 Cadillac across the street.

It's funny that the car known as the "Poor Man's BMW 2002" is now worth more than a 2002. In 1971, you could buy a brand-new 2002 for $3,275… or a Datsun 510 for $1,990. Both cars had IRS, disc brakes, etc., but the BMW had the power edge, with 114 horses versus 96. With the money the Datsun buyer saved, however, another 50 horsepower could be added, with enough left over to buy better wheels. Many did, and that's why almost all of the 510s have been hooned to death by now.


The original carbureted L16 is long gone, replaced by what appears to be a fuel-injected L20. I neglected to ask the owner what junkyard donor provided this powerplant, so you Nissan aficionados will have to help ID it for us.


I'm glad we finally have a 510 for Down On The Street, not least because Alameda is in the 510 area code. We've had a 411 and a 610, but the once-common 510 is a rarity these days.

Well, hopefully you'll have a better day at the 24hrs than we did (though we did finish up by running fastest lap in our group Sunday afternoon).


Saturday was a mix of rain, sleet, snow, wrong tire choice, and too much throttle in the wrong place....


A liberal application of dead blow hammer and duct tape later.....from a distance - you can't even tell... (but I've got a couple of weeks of sheetmetal and paint ahead. Fortunately no suspension damage) Gotta have it looking real good for the Under 2 litre Trans Am revival for next month.

After seeing VintageRacer's 510 in action, we've been keeping our eyes open for good deals on the old Datsuns. Of course, these days forced induction is all the rage, so it's tempting to turbo-ize your vintage Bluebird... but why do all that complicated turbo plumbing yourself when you can buy someone else's hopeless ambitious project 510? Say, this '72 510 with a VG30ET V6 ripped out of a late-80s 300ZX Turbo? And we do mean ripped; judging from the seller's description of the wiring ("a lot of the wires don't do anything"), it sounds like the swapper simply hooked up the hoist to the engine and yanked it right out without bothering to disconnect anything. Another warning sign: whenever you see the phrase "nothing a little welding can't take care of" in a listing, you know the car is a one-way ticket to Hell! The reserve on this auction is only $1700 ("just like last time"), which means that the Fun Per Dollar Quotient on this car has the potential to be even better than its power-to-weight ratio... if you can make it work, that is.

We all know that turbocharging the piss out of an RX-7 is a quick route to a batshit power-to-weight ratio, maybe even better than what you'd get with a VG30ET-powered 510, and this 1991 RX-7convertible with Turbo II engine swap for the chump-change price of just six hundred clams... well, you figure there's gotta be a catch somewhere. Fortunately, the warning signs are clear: First, you get the seller's statement, "I never finished the project because the engine needs a rebuild." Wait, he installed an engine he knew to be bad? Second, it has a new engine computer, which probably means every component that ever moved electrons would likely make a Mazda engineer weep if he could see its current hacked-together state; a junkyard computer swap is often believed to solve problems caused by a hopeless tangle of modified wiring. Third, the seller didn't bother to take the fast-food trash out of the car before shooting the obligatory camera-phone photographs. And, finally, he'll trade it for rims. Five lugs, please. Yet still, picture yourself in full Hoon Mode in this thing after you get it running and jack up the boost- the convertible top makes it that much easier to videotape your adventures!

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He says he races the car in the Northwest, at SOVREN events, and that the car is always in the top ten and often in the top five. Yet more proof that Jalopnik readers walk the walk! Now all we need is for our ZAZ-racing readers in Russia to send in some pics...

In this corner, we have this Bavarian bully, which has been taken most of the way through a turbocharger installation. Imagine the fun you'll have when the boost kicks in and you start breaking drivetrain parts leave everything else on the road in your dust! Before that can happen, however, you'll need to deal with a few minor issues. For example, the turbocharger is fried and it looks like the plumbing isn't quite all there, and then there's the nagging question of whether the seller actually knew what he was doing when he put the engine together. On the happy side of the ledger, it does have a 5-speed, aftermarket sway bars, a limited-slip differential, and the body is in good shape. $3000 and it's your personal hell.

As we all know, the Japanese automakers have never backed down from their arrogant German counterparts, and this '71 Datsun 510 should be able to give the Turbo 2002 a run for its money, if not leave it in the weeds. Turbocharging is great, but we also dig a big, high-revving, naturally-aspirated four-banger under the hood, and with a 2.4-liter KA24DE under the hood, this 510 should get you arrested the first time you drive it accelerate like a striped ape. The seller is asking a thousand bucks more than the BMW's seller (in an ironic reversal of the original 510/2002 price ratio), but that's because it "runs good" (sic) and is rust-free; however, this ad has the scent of a seller who will respond favorably to a cash offer well below the asking price. The seller is a man or woman of few words, but we're pretty sure the statement "still a project" speaks volumes. What mysteries will you uncover as you dive into this car's innards? What scary corners have been cut? Most important, could it beat the Turbo 2002?

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It's hard to find a car freak who doesn't have a soft spot for the Datsun 510, with its independent rear suspension and sap-enhancement-friendly engine, so the appeal of a '71 510 wagon for only $650 can't be denied. The serious 510 obsesso-purists might sneer at a wagon, but we know better; station wagons, like, totally rule! This car doesn't run (no hints as to the cause, of course) and it's cursed with an automatic transmission, but both those problems are easily remedied. Just be sure to ask the seller about back registration before you sign on the line that is dotted!

A nice reliable Datsun- preferably updated with SR20DET power- would be fun and all, but let's say you need to be different. How about a car boasting a healthy serving of Kenosha Quirkiness, with a quasi-famous pedigree to boot? Here's a '77 AMC Gremlin that the seller claims was featured on the History Channel's Full Throttle series. It's a six-banger car, but it comes with a neat-o 4-barrel intake and custom-made header. Just because the seller likes the cut of your jib, this fine piece of AMC history has a price tag of a mere $600! Smog compliance might be a problem if you keep it in California, though.

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Davey G's travels in the People's Republic has got us thinking — what will the culture of Chinese cars be like? Ever since the Datsun 510 we've known about the SUPER POTENTIAL inherent to Japanese cars. Then the NSX showed us that the Rising Sun can beat the big boys at their own supercar game. And cheap. The upcoming hotness that will be the Skyline should cement Japan's position as technical high-performance car-ninjas in the minds of Americans. Even Korean cars are beginning to stand for something besides frickin' cheap. As to what exactly we don't know, but something. So we pose it to you, which country makes the cars you like the most? That speaks to you the loudest? That you dream about most often? Is it those stoic Germans and their horsepower mega-machines? The French with their oddball, well, oddballness? Americans with our love of the straight line, cupholders and sheer size? Personally, we can't decide between Britain and Italy. At all. You? – Jonny lieberman

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Question of the Day: How's Your Kung Fu? [Internal]

As we power up the Jalopnik laptop each morning, we're usually greeted by a period shot of Pete Brock's BRE racing team circa 1971: driver John Morton, Brock and engine chief John Caldwell, along with the Datsun 510 racer the team ran in the SCCA Trans Am series that year. That the Jalop comprises all manner of 510 geeks is no secret, which is why we were plenty psyched when Autoblog picked a restored, tuner model as its reader ride of the day. It's a bit of a Frankenstein's monster, this butterscotch brown '72, sporting BMW headlamps, a suspension fitted with bespoke swaybars, and a turbo-boosted Nissan SR20DET under the hood producing 300 hp at the wheel. It even has a BRE-style air dam, which all proper 510s should. Click through for more Datsun geekery, in the form of John Morton's commercial for the original 280z. – Mike Spinelli

RR of the Day: 1972 Datsun 510 2-Door [Autoblog]

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SUPER FUTURE MODERN AMUSEMENT! 1968 Datsun Bluebird [internal]